Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Railroad traffic through La Mirada is about to get a lot busier

La Mirada- Rail activity on the BNSF line through La Mirada will see more traffic as part of a plan President Joe Biden will announce today increasing operations at the Los Angeles Port to 24 hours a day to eliminate bottlenecks that are hindering economic recovery from the pandemic.

The BNSF rail line through La Mirada plays a significant part in moving the millions of shipping containers that move through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports each year which receive 40% of U.S. import cargo.

Port authorities will nearly double the number of hours longshore workers will offload ships that currently sit anchored offshore in a row extending seven miles to the south off Huntington Beach.

To clear space at the port to receive all the incoming shipping containers commitments have been made by the biggest players at the port to receive and transport out many more of the containers in the coming days as the operation expected to last 90 days gets underway.

Those commitments include Walmart that will receive and transport up to 50% more products, UPS handling 20% more containers, 60% by Samsung, Home Depot 10%, and Target 10%. 

FedEx will make a major shift to nighttime hours through increased use of rail and trucking transport that could result in a near doubling of shipments it handles daily. 

A similar effort is also underway at Long Beach Port.

Los Angeles Port has also seen a 30% increase in exports this year, with 20% more exports being reported at Long Beach.